http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/29/media/r ... index.htmlABC cancels 'Roseanne' after star's racist Twitter rant
"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," ABC said. The cancellation comes just months after the show premiered to huge ratings.
Barr had earlier apologized and said she was "now leaving Twitter."
Following Barr's Twitter rant, one of the show's consulting producers, Wanda Sykes, said she's done with the show. "I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC," Sykes tweeted.
And Sara Gilbert, who plays Barr's daughter on the ABC sitcom, tweeted that Barr's comments are "abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show."
Gilbert added: "This is incredibly sad and difficult for all of us, as we've created a show that we believe in, are proud of, and that audiences love — one that is separate and apart from the opinions and words of one cast member."
Barr is notorious for tweeting about pro-Trump conspiracy theories and other controversial topics. This week she repeatedly attacked prominent Democrats.
In one of the tweets, she wrote, "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."
Barr was responding to a comment about Valerie Jarrett, a top former aide to President Obama. She replied to CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski and said it was "a joke." [No, really? and here I thought that you seriously believed that Jarret was child of a Muslim extremist and a gorilla...]
But Barr later deleted the tweet and tweeted an apology to Jarrett and "all Americans."
"I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks," Barr tweeted. "I should have known better. Forgive me -- my joke was in bad taste." Barr then said she's leaving Twitter.[A little late there Rosie...]
Jarrett declined to comment.
Social media lit up with criticism of both Barr and ABC, with some demanding a response from the broadcast network. ABC has not replied to CNNMoney's request for comment.
In the past, ABC executives have privately said that they hold their noses when Barr tweets. They know some of her posts have been problematic -- full of pro-Trump conspiracy theories that mislead her fans.
The executives want Barr to focus on her show. But they seem to take the position that there's no controlling Barr, and that's what makes her the successful comic she is.
ABC employees shared these views on condition of anonymity earlier this year, before the current Twitter controversy.
Barr also made comments on Twitter about Chelsea Clinton, tweeting, "Chelsea Soros Clinton." She later replied in the comments that Clinton is "married to Soros nephew." Soros is a billionaire liberal benefactor who has been the subject to many right-wing conspiracy theories over the years.
Clinton responded to Barr shortly after.
"Good morning Roseanne - my given middle name is Victoria. I imagine George Soros's nephews are lovely people. I'm just not married to one," she wrote.
Barr responded back to Clinton saying, "Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you! Please forgive me!"
She then continued, "By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?"
This is a conspiracy theory about Soros that has been debunked many times. The fact-checking site Snopes called it "false" back in 2016.
Barr's followers are accustomed to her conspiratorial tweets, but even by her standards, Tuesday was outrageous.
Some commenters connected her behavior to Trump-era intolerance and said ABC was helping to normalize racism by supporting her show.
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough was critical of ABC on Twitter.
"Hey @ABC, Roseanne Barr compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape. There is no apology she can make that justifies @ABC turning a blind eye to this bigotry by airing another second of her show," he tweeted. "Even in the Age of Trump, there are red lines that can never be crossed. This is one."
Others like civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson called on the network to cancel the show.
".@ABC, how desperate are you to profit from Roseanne's racism? We know racism sells in this country, it always has. But you don't have to participate in it," he tweeted. "This apology is meaningless. Cancel Roseanne."
The premiere of Roseanne's reboot was one of the highest-rated new shows of the season, and Barr is one of the network's biggest stars, if not its biggest.
However, after the huge debut, which brought in more than 18 million live viewers, the show saw its audience come back down to earth. Its finale, which aired last week, nabbed roughly 10 million viewers. [If she hadn't had such a big ratings drop, I doubt ABC would have pulled the plug over this...]
I've never thought much of Barr. I didn't care for the original version of the show, (I saw maybe two episodes) and I haven't watched any of this reboot....
Even though they are polar opposites politically, I've always had her and Rosie O'Donnell pretty much in the same basket. A pair of obnoxious, unfunny, loud-mouthed vulgarians.
They're also both crackpot-conspiracy theorists; O'Donnell is a 9/11 "truther"...
(I can't recall at the moment which one of them was the one who thought a few years ago it would be great fun to do a terrible version of the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of a baseball game, and then end their performance by grabbing their crotch...)
I also remember seeing Barr a few years back being interviewed by Larry King after she had written a "tell all" autobiography...
She told King that when she started out doing stand-up comedy, that she would turn tricks in the cars in the in the parking lots of clubs she was working to supplement her income...
When I heard her say that, I turned to the person I was watching the show with and opined, "I'll bet she got bigger laughs in the cars"...
You have a right to free speech, but you don't have a right to star in a network TV show. Given the level of offensiveness of what she said, (essentially publicly calling an African American woman an ape) I think ABC did the right thing.
It will be interesting to see what if anything Il Boobce has to say, since he so publicly sang Barr's praises and crowed about the success of the show (and of course took credit for it).
